Asana Adjustment & Assisting Guidelines

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, we lay the foundation for making wise decisions regarding assistance to an individual student (in contrast to the whole class).

Objective

Establish a foundation for decision-making and proficient techniques for assisting an individual student, whether verbally, energetically or physically.

Description

Define assisting and adjusting and reasons a teacher may choose to assist or adjust a student. Give examples of inappropriate reasons to adjust a student and describe students for whom adjusting is unlikely to be safe or appropriate. Explain the types of knowledge and experience a teacher must have to be properly prepared to safely adjust a student and considerations made in the moment to evaluate whether an assist is called for. Explain considerations for giving one-on-one verbal instruction and how an adjustment may affect a student’s energy. When offering a physical adjustment, describe how to move into a student’s space, describe physical safety considerations when giving adjustments and explain the focus when adjusting a very flexible student.

Introduction

Here we focus on the practice of offering a teaching designed to address an individual student (in contrast to the whole class). We call this assisting or adjusting.

In yoga teaching, the word “adjustment” is typically synonymous with:

• Physical adjustment
• Manual adjustment
• Hands on adjustment

How people use the word “assist” varies. It may include physical adjustments or may only refer to other types of teachings. Here we are using the words “assisting” and “adjusting” interchangeably and broadly, encompassing all types of assisting and adjusting:

• Verbal
• Energetic
• Physical

The ways in which a teacher chooses to guide individual students varies greatly depending upon training, lineage, personal style, experience and complementary skills.

We honor that as with everything else related to teaching, this is a big topic with no one right way. Each situation is unique and so we do not advocate one way but rather bring together many expert teachings to support you.

Here we’ve gathered guidelines and approaches from numerous sources to support you in defining and refining your approach.

AN EXPRESSION OF HUMAN BEINGS

Remember that asanas are an expression of unique human beings, not ideal or static forms or “poses.” – Mark Stephens